NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg says preliminary air quality tests showed no danger Sunday morning in the area around the Deutsche Bank building, which burned for almost seven hours Saturday. The seven-alarm blaze brought back all too painful memories for the New York City Fire Department as the burning building, abandoned after 9/11, claimed two more lives. Robert Beddia, 54, had been on the job 23 years and was assigned to Engine 24. Joseph Graffagnino, 33, joined the FDNY eight years ago and was assigned to Ladder 5. "There were two men who were dedicated to helping this city and tonight we grieve for both of them and their families," Bloomberg said Saturday. Bloomberg said the deadly fire may have been fueled by wooden boxes and supplies being used to dismantle the 40-story skyscraper, although the cause is under investigation. Investigators said Beddia and Graffagnino had air masks, but the maze-like conditions on the burning floor made it difficult to escape and they ran out of air. News Channel 4 has learned a broken standpipe, an emergency device to which firefighters can attach hoses may have played a role in the tragedy. The Deutsche Bank has had a troubled history since the 9/11 attacks. The building has been the subject of court battles over who would pay to take it down. There have also been work stoppages and accidents. It has been cited several times by environmental regulators. And hundreds of body parts of World Trade Center victims have been found inside the building. Five or six other firefighters were taken to a hospital after battling Saturday's blaze, but were expected to be released, Bloomberg said. No civilians were hurt.

Wherever they are, and some stations outside the town are close enough to respond, additional alarms, which we don’t actually hear anymore, will call them in. Each town or municipality will have its own call-in system. Fairbanks, for example, might call in North Pole, and sometimes does, but probably never call in Anchorage since it is an eight hour drive unless the disaster is so huge it would still be unresolved the next day. For wildfires such as a couple years ago that burned millions of acres north of Fairbanks, they called in firefighters from the Lower 48, which would be beyond the old numbered alarm system.

I don’t think they do implosions in crowded urban areas. Even though it looks like implosions are nice clean ways to take down buildings, they still send out debris for blocks. It can work if there is nothing else around (See the Kingdome, which was surronded by parking lots).

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